Uglies

A well told adventure set in a future where the populace is contained in idyllic enclaves devoted to a luxuriant yet regimented lifestyle. This becomes a somewhat typical story of how the heroine learns more about the secrets behind those cities and how they work to subvert them. However, the story never lags and the use of cosmetic surgery to produce perfect faces and bodies (based on human evolution) adds a unique touch. Recommended if you enjoyed the Hunger Games (though it was written prior to that series).

Set in a time when the superstars of today are viewed as stunningly ugly, Westerfields reveals a world that is the extreme of every message about body image that American popular culture is convincing people to conform to today; a look at what beauty really means, but lacking the sappyness that usually adjoins such messages of inner beauty, Uglies has a real message to get across.
As far as plot, Uglies is certainly a pre and early teen novel; plot twists and style are far from lacking, but they aren't as developed as more advanced reading should be. Frankly, however, this doesn't matter; Westerfield has an audience in this age group, and this is certainly better then a lot of stuff I read growing up.

This is one YA book I would recommend to any teen or older. It is a bit heavy for younger children - be prepared for uncomfortable discussions with any littlie who reads or hears this story - but is perfect to confront some of the questions teens and college students have been facing since, probably, before humans moved out of caves and into houses. Better, the story is relatable, well paced, with character development in a world any child of the digital era can get behind. Strongly recommend.

I liked this book! I struggled with the book a bit in the beginning, mainly because of the names. New Pretty Town? Uglyville? SpagBol? And the worst offender--Peris??? I also groaned at yet another YA-Love-Triangle™. Once the plot got going, and I realized the heavy-handed symbolism actually had a point, my complaints fell away. 'Uglies' was a fun, engaging read. I read the book because it started with U, and I enjoyed the Westerfeld's 'Leviathan' series (in fact, I still prefer Leviathan) but I can't wait to finish this series!

This was cute. A story of adventure set in a world where beauty is everything. I wasn’t sure what direction this story was going to go. I was thinking “Pretty” (Paris) falls in love with an “Ugly” (Tally) but that wasn’t it. It was way more than I expected. It was a girl, breaking promises and striving for what she wanted. It was a coming of age, where she learned that not everything is what it seems. And then the boy unexpectedly (always unexpectedly) shows up and she wants another life. But then, at the end! Turns out she wants to have her cake and eat it too. Dig the direction of it all, can’t wait to see what’s next.

One of my favorite YA books I read in 2006. I couldn't put it down, loved the concept. Anyone who reads it wants the next in the trilogy (Pretties).

The plot was interesting and creative. The intensive cliffhanger definitely ensures my reading the next book!

Uglies was an amazing book that I enjoyed cover to cover. It remains one of my favorites. Things went a little down on Specials for me, though I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. With each book in the series however, I was growing more disappointed and really never completely enjoyed the series ending. This series started out brilliant for me but declined with each book.However, that was just my personal experience and I hope that others were able to continue enjoying each book as much as I enjoyed the first.

Considering this was on my wish list, I was very much looking forward to reading it. I must say, I was greatly disappointed. It started off well, introducing us to Tally and her utalitarian world. The story held my attention for about the first 100 pages before I started to become frustrated with the plot development and the fact that I wasn't connecting to any of the characters.There is one goal: to be a Pretty.Tally longs to join the folks in New Pretty Town and become what society deems as 'perfect'. After the first 100 pages, I started to get bored as the story was just dragging along. There was always constant movement, yet the story was not progressing. Many scenes lacked significance. At times, I felt as if I was in a parked car, and everything around me was moving. Although we get to see Shay and Tally go on adventures, it felt as if the story wasn't going anywhere. I felt as if I could do without those scenes as they didn't add much to the story. I wanted Westerfeld to just get to the point and stop lollygagging.The story just didn't fly off the pages for me. I didn't feel the presence of the character, I didn't particularly care for the romance that was forming between Tally and David nor did I care much for how the story would end. I skimmed a few pages, particularly towards the end, which I don't like to do, as I feel I'll miss out on important information. It's a good concept. It just wasn't executed well. At least, that's how I feel.Westerfeld writes well, but the story just didn't grab me. Uglies was an okay read, but I don't think I'll be continuing on with the rest of the books in the series.

THIS WAS SO GOOD.

It held me captivated the ENTIRE time.

great book to start off a dystopian interest. i just couldn't stop reading. the rest of the series is just as great as well.

ok. so on top of all the other stuff i have been reading lately, i became thoroughly engrossed in a series which has not let me down in the slightest. this is a bit long winded, but keep in mind it is in reference to reading three books.. and i am trying REALLY hard not to give away spoilers..

it is hard to write about this book because in the context of the review, the keywords and mannerisms of the characters society seems like nothing but grammar and spelling errors. bear with it though, in the books, you are so washed over with the word use and logic that it actually makes sense in the proper frame.

the Uglies trilogy (now a quadrilogy?) was very engrossing. Book one, Uglies, describes a world where there is no war. there is no famine, hatred, or turmoil. 200-300 years in the past over population, strip mining, clear cutting, genetic engineering of plants and animals laid waste on everything in the world. humans have rebuilt from the ashes after we destroyed ourselves. our generation is referred to as “the rusties” since everything left from our world is covered in rust and falling apart.

Tally Youngblood is 15 years old, and only months away from becoming one of the “pretties”. in this world, to remove all of the dangerous human habits of destruction, you are born and raised by your parents, once you hit a certain age (8 or 9 from what i could tell) you are shipped off to school as an ugly. at the age of 16 you are taken from school where you will be put under the knife and remade as a better person. your bones are ground down and or elongated, you have new muscle tissue added to your body, and you have full facial re-constructive surgery. all “pretties” have a choice on how they look, with in the guidelines of the governments rules of morphology. they effectively remove all extremes in height, hair color, skin color, etc. everyone is similar and there is no need for hatred.

Tally, in waiting for her 16th birthday meets a new friend, Shay, who has no desire to become one of the pretties. a week before their shared birthday/graduation from being uglies, Shay decides to run off to a rumored group of rebels who have shafted the system and stayed ugly, and foregone all efforts to work within the system. Tally however has no desire to join her friend and sticks around for her surge (surgery). her only desire is become pretty and join her friends in New Pretty town, where she can dance and play and enjoy the life she has been programmed to want since birth.

Unfortunately, Tally is roped into a game of social change. she is scooped up by the fearsome and dangerous police force that acts as bogeymen for the government. Special Circumstances (the Specials) only comes forward when needed, generally letting the local police force take care of everything. This being a “Special circumstance” Tally is forced to follow her friend to the encampment of rebels (the Smoke) and betray her friend, and everyone who has escaped so far. if she does not, she will be denies surge and will forever be Ugly. and in this society, this is the worst thing that could ever happen to you.

Book one was so good, that i had an itch to move on to book two immediately. i hate doing that. i love to stretch a series out if possible, and draw out the enjoyment from the story line. so when book one was finished, though i really wanted to move on to the second book, i ramped myself down and read the Real Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja book. Book two immediately followed and when finished i lost all self control and my fingers and eyes forced me to read book three next.. it took about two days with my schedule.. two lousy days.. why couldn’t it last longer… i wasted a great book by reading it too soon..

well, not a waste. damn. it was so good, i had no choice really.. it was in my best interest to read the book. or so i keep telling myself. there is a fourth book. it was written after the trilogy was announced, so it is a bit of an anomaly, thus the trilogy quadrilogy notation above. unfortunately, the book Extras is still in hardback edition, so until it hits paperback, i will have to force myself to wait.. this sucks..

these books, written by Scott Westerfeld, fall into the teen-fiction category. they are written for teens, but the story line and books themselves do not lend themselves only to teens. being thirty years old, i literally could not stop reading these books. if you need a good break from your normal reading schedule, i would throw these in the mix and read them. they all rank around 300 pages of single space small print, so they are not some little read you would use to sturdy the kitchen table. instead, they are full of vibrant ideas, technology, tattoos that i wish were a reality. there were no obvious plot twists that made me think “why am i reading this” or “how predictable” instead, i was often surprised and left feeling “bubbly” as they state in the book.

imagine a world full of barbie dolls being slowly destroyed by barbie’s cyber-punk kid sister that has been kept in the closet for years.

i was sad to come to the end of this series, but glad to know that i will have at least one more book to close it all up in the near future.

anyone who is interested should note that all three of the first books can be bought in a boxed set for under 20 bucks.. this is how i got sucked into them.. a really good price for a nice story line idea turned into one of the best purchases i have made on books in a while. now, i just have to hope that hollywood has not gotten their hands on the thought of movies. these would be thoroughly ruined and not done justice.. read them before someone fucks them up for you… thats all i have to say on the matter.

Great commentary on our culture's obsession with beauty.

A truly fascinating story. A world where every is perfectly beautiful and the rebels are fighting to stay ugly (not surgically altered).
I enjoyed it; it was a fun quick read.

I liked this book, although it's really mostly aimed at teenagers (which is to be expected of course, since it's a YA book - I just mean that I've read some YA books that have a more mature feel and writing style, and this definitely sits around the 16-18 age group). Ether way, it's a good book in my opinion, and worth a read. What I liked best was the idea behind it, and that for a dystopian novel it really does sit in a moral grey area for me. When they mentioned the inequality there used to be between people because of the sheer chance of being born attractive or not, and issues to do with eating disorders, it felt more realistic that their society could have come to that point. Of course the surgery is still wrong, I'm right with Shay on that one, but hey - that's the point of the novel. It's a shame that the protagonist Tally doesn't realise that earlier on, which means she's not really all that likeable for most of the book. But there's plenty of room for growth, with another couple of books in the series. I'm very interested to see what happens in the next book.

I've only one question: WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE?????

5 stars all the way. No idea why this has less than 4 solid stars, look at reviews on good reads and amazon, don’t trust the reviews here. I read a book or two a week sometimes, more. Getting sucked into the mystery of these “uglies” and their customs and their adventures, my favorite universe if I could pick to live in any. You’ll picture yourself hover boarding and wish such a universe did exist. Never been disappointed by any of his books, highly recommend Imposters, Leviathon, Peeps and Afterworlds and respective series.

This book had an interesting storyline but I felt it dragged on. Maybe the sequel will bring more closure.

Love this series so very much. I think I have read this book over 100 times.

Set in a utupia that has done away with discord and ugliness. The main character is thrust into a situation that forces her to reexamine beauty and the lies upon which her society is built. Like all of Westerfeld's work, the main character is really interesting and the plot is fast-paced and well-crafted.

Loved the book! My only complaint is that the reader under-does the exclamations to where they almost sound sarcastic. Other than that, great listen.

I expected this book to be good; I'd heard lots of people say it was. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. At its core the book is about something fundamental in our own society today. It made the book powerful for me. This book is about learning to accept who you are. The beginning was a little slow compared to the rest of the book and the story was fairly predictable, but it was still a entertaining read. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I devoured this book. Read it mostly in two sittings. Tally is a very likeable character, so I just wanted to watch what happened to her and hope she did the right thing. But, because she was a sympathetic character, I went from wanting her to betray Shay so she could be pretty, and, therefore, happy, to wanting her to remain a faithful Smokie. Of course, it isn't that simple. And I'm sure she won't be made pretty and then cured that quickly, either, but I can't wait to find out what happens to her in the next installment. And I hope things turn out well for her and David!

Interesting concept, but, unlike The Hunger Games, this one is definitely written for a teenage audience. Still on the fence about finishing the series.

Uglies is a book about a society in which everyone recieves an operation at 16 to make them supermodel gorgeous. As a result of this, the "uglies", as those before 16 call themselves, have absolutely no self-respect, and all the "pretties" look exactly the same. Tally is a young "ugly", who simply cannot wait for the operation... but before her 16th birthday she meets a girl who turns her world upside down.

Tally Youngblood is the main character in this dystopian society novel. In Tally's society, when teenagers turn 16, they have a surgery to be turned "pretty," and they go to an island, New Pretty Town, across the river to live a life of freedom and parties (for a period of time). However, after Tally's new friend, Shay, runs away to escape the surgery, Tally is recruited by Special Circumstances to track her down or face not being allowed to turn pretty. Tally sets off to find Shay, and once she does (at a place called the Smoke) and realizes what else the surgery entails (putting lesions on people's brains to keep them "pretty minded." She then refuses to turn in all of the other uglies in the Smoke, and by accident, leads the Special Circumstances right to them. She and David, her love interest, escape, and go to free the rest of the Smoke inhabitants from Special Circumstances. Ultimately, in an effort to find a cure for the lesions, Tally agrees to turn pretty.This is a great dystopian novel to which children will be drawn. There is action, adventure, love, and suspense. The concept behind the story is also very good, and it can be an engrossing novel for readers.

This story has an interesting premise. Change society by making people pretty, effectively removing many human traits from people, mainly discord and fights. Everyone is beautiful. Or so we thought. There are people out there who do not have this operation. People who live on the outside. People no one was supposed to know about.

A surprising find in Barnes and Noble. Really interesting story concept that gets me thinking about Women's and Gender Studies issues, but that could be an entire LiveJournal post.

Somewhat predictable but still a great read. I'm a fan of dystopic literature so this one plays into my wheelhouse. I know I'm late to the party with this series but that's how it goes. Looking forward to reading the next one!

I liked it! Good dystopian ya novel. I'll keep reading.